'American Idol' tough to predict
Posted: Thursday, March 08, 2007 6:17 PM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
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TV
Predicting who will go home on the "American Idol" results show each week can be tough. It's a challenge because you can't simply choose the worst singers -- you have to picture the voting audience and try and determine whose fans will be out in frantic force.
Our office predictions tonight were unanimous on only one singer: Jared Cotter. It was no surprise to us when he was the first to be cut. He just didn't stand out, to us or to the judges. When even gentle Paula delivers almost nothing but negative comments, you know you're in trouble.
I also felt that Sabrina Sloan would be packing her bags. Her singing voice was fine, and judge Simon Cowell put her among his top four women in a strong field, but he also compared her song to those heard in "a hotel resort performance." One wonders how many hotel singers Simon has heard in his life -- he's always comparing someone's song to a bad lounge singer, yet really, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to hang in the Duluth Radisson, waiting for the after-dinner entertainment. While Sabrina's voice alone would beat out such singers as Haley Scarnato, she didn't make her personality stand out. Charm: 1. Vocal chops: 0.
I honestly didn't believe Antonella Barba would go home, but for all the wrong reasons. Has any singer this season received more press attention, even if most of it was unwanted? The racy photos that are supposedly of Barba have people buzzing. Her name recognition alone has to be about the highest among the current crop of "Idol" wannabes. The fact that she did get booted, and not Haley or Jordin Sparks, makes the conspiracy theorists in all of us come out. Could "American Idol" be messing with the results, thinking they didn't need Barba on the show, especially now that people are pointing out the double standard that kept her on the show and booted Frenchie Davis? Inquiring minds do wonder. Her leaving was deserved, but it was still surprising.
The other shocker from Thursday's results show involved the men. Sundance Head, he of the chin-fro and self-deprecating jokes about his weight, seemed like one of those singers who could coast on his personality and fanbase for weeks to come. Don't forget that much was made at the auditions of the fact that he has a famous father, singer Roy Head. But even if he didn't, there's that memorable cowboyesque nickname (his real name is Jason). Anything that helps your name stick in fans' minds these days gains you votes. Does Brandon Rogers have more of a fanbase than Sundance? Does Phil Stacey?
Apparently, because the sun went down on Sundance. Which meant that 17-year-old Sanjaya Malakar, whose voice is obviously weak, had a groundswell of fans who turned out to vote to keep him around. It's not that hard to understand, really. No one can text-message and dial a phone faster than teenage and preteen girls, and no singer on the show is better suited to be beloved by young women than Sanjaya.
But Sanjaya would do well to remember another young "Idol" male: Kevin Covais from last season. Covais had similar charms to Sanjaya -- he was young, cute, and eager, although his voice couldn't stack up to the older singers. Covais made it to the final 12, and then shocked many by making it to the top 11. (Some credit "Vote for the Worst.com" with keeping him in that long.) But he was gone the next week, and before he left, had to endure some caustic comments from Simon Cowell that could not have been easy for anyone, let along a teen, to hear in front of millions of people.
Sanjaya is still singing, but his road is only likely to get tougher from here on out.
